Humans against Mankind (HAM)
Humans against Mankind (HAM), also sometimes called Utopian Realism, is a social and philosophical movement dedicated to the cause of transhumanism. HAM activists and philosophers believe that oppression, hierarchy, and violence are inherent to human nature and that these injustices can only be overcome by augmenting our minds using technology. HAM ideas have historically been very popular among synthetics and aliens-rights advocates, and are therefore often viewed with suspicion. HAM is a subfaction of the Unified People's Collective. The founding document of HAM is an essay titled, Humanity is the Problem by ML Graeber and Lidija Čolović, a known synthetic. Organization HAM is organized horizontally, according to principles of direct democracy. HAM's founders refuse to act as gatekeepers to the movement, insisting that it be a movement of the people. Graeber, in particular, has insisted that the only criteria for being a part of HAM are disliking human nature, wanting to change it, and calling yourself a member. Ideology The decentralized nature of HAM has lead to some confusion over the exact tenants of the organization. Since there is no official route for someone to be removed from HAM there are many prominent members of HAM with mutually irreconcilable beliefs. When asked about this ML Graeber said, "the founding idea of Humans against Mankind is that man can know his nature and change it for the better. Beyond that people can pretty much believe what they want to believe." Despite this disunity, one can still speak, broadly, of a few trends within HAM thinking: * Utopian Realism: these thinkers emphasize the possibility that modification of the human process of cognition may eventually make violence and oppression completely unnecessary. This form of HAM philosophy is the most popular since it's the one publicly espoused by the founders of HAM. It's a common philosophy among alien-rights advocates and alien-Anthropologists because it draws on observations of alien processes of cognition. In his book Unhuman Thoughts, ML Graeber points out that in-group out-group thinking is a feature of the human mind, and not inherent to sentient thought itself, and therefore might be eliminated if we were able to modify the human mind. * Reformism/Corporatism: these thinkers believe in the ability of transhumanism to increase the rate of capital flow and to bring prosperity to all. The movement is split between those who believe that transhumanism should aim to "fix" Capitalism and those who believe that Capitalism doesn't need fixing and that human augmentation should serve to intensify competition. These ideas are most popular among Trilliant employees. * Postfeudalism: these thinkers, often accused of betraying the spirit of HAM, seek to maintain the feudal system by augmenting the mind of the Emperox. Postfeudalists hold that augmenting the entire human race is unnecessary and that so long as the empire is obedient to a wise Emperox, peace will reign in Acheron Rho. Where Postfeudalists differ from traditional Feudalists is that they believe that no purely human Emperox will ever be wise enough to rule the empire. This ideology had gained a toehold in the houses minor before the war on synthetics was declared. Now, few would openly admit to believing in Postfeudalism for fear of being a called synth-sympathizer. * Guildism: Guildists believe that the fate of humanity is to transcend human nature and that this has already been done by members of the Guild. Guildists emphasize the importance of opening lines of communication between the Guild and the rest of Acheron Rho. There are very few committed Guildists because the majority of them drive their ships into Guild-space and never return. Category:UPC Factions